Cut Out 'Prowl' Stuff

March 7, 1986

MY DICTIONARY says that ''to prowl'' means ''to roam about stealthily.'' Several weeks ago, in a page A-1 headline, you had U.S. carrier planes ''prowling'' along the Libyan coast. And recently one of your editorials stated: ''U.S. naval vessels now prowl the seas near Libya's coast.'' Better cut out that ''prowl'' stuff before wordsmith William Safire or Ronald Reagan makes you -- figuratively, of course -- go stand in a corner.